Don’t fall for fake NEO, Tether and MetaMask cryptocurrency wallets on Google Play

6 months ago

2 Min Read

Fake cryptocurrency wallets continue to creep their way into Google’s application store for Android aficionados, as one researcher has recently discovered.

Using his personal website, independent researcher Lukas Stefanko sounds the alarm over four new fake cryptocurrency wallets that trick users either into giving away their credentials, or impersonate legitimate cryptocurrency wallets.

“These threats imitate legitimate services for NEO, Tether and MetaMask. I reported these apps to Google security team and they were promptly removed,” writesStefanko.

All four apps were built with the same ultimate purpose in mind, but they are of two distinct categories:

Phishing – where the malicious app requests the user’s private key and wallet password after launch (i.e the MetaMask app)

Fake wallets – Stefanko found two relatively identical NEO Wallet apps that fit into this category, as well as one Tether Wallet app

The post includes a detailed disclose of two of the fake wallets, a demonstration of the apps’ functionality, an example of legitimate VS fake wallets, a bit of code analysis and some tips on how to stay safe out there.

The more intriguing find, in Stefanko’s opinion, was the tool used to create these malicious applications.

“What concerns me the most is that these fake wallets were created using Drag-n-Drop app builder service without any coding knowledge required,” he writes, adding that “literally anyone can ‘develop’ [a] simple but effective malicious app either to steal credentials or impersonate [a] cryptocurrency wallet.”

The post also shows indicators of compromise (IoC) in the form of package names and hashes, as well as wallet addresses and the cryptocurrency associated with the respective address (Tether, NEO, NEO QR).

About the author

Filip TRUTA

Filip is an experienced writer with over a decade of practice in the technology realm. He has covered a wide range of topics in such industries as gaming, software, hardware, and security, and has worked in various B2B and B2C marketing roles. He likes fishing (not phishing), basketball, and playing around in FL Studio.